Homecoming
by Tijuana Pirate
Summary: Clo.Tifa, postAC. Sometimes it takes people a while to realize that they haven't lost anything at all. A long awaited homecoming. Giftfic for Heather Cat.


**Notes**: Heather Cat asked me for a nice post-AC Clo.Tifa story about a homecoming. I personally think that home can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Home to me is about peace - fiding it again or realizing that you never lost it in the first place. So that's what this story is about.

To Heather Cat with lots and lots and lots of love.

Everyone else, enjoy.

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Homecoming

All the scenes blurred together. Cloud, Kadaj – Sephiroth. You could feel it in the ... a pressure that sucked your breath away. Vincent said something from behind her but it something foreign, lost in the swirl that the sky had become.

And then the rain – light and sun-kissed dripping down, enough to let her know that it was over again. The deck erupted; she could hear the cheering. She watched Cloud from the window and he tilted his face up to the clouds…

None of them saw it; a flash too bright to look at. She heard a scream - it was probably her own.

Barret's hand at her shoulder; Yuffie in the corner – silence. They couldn't ---

_A glass platform and the shimmering lights; red lines that trailed into the waters._

She had no idea how long the silence lasted, the only sound the long rumble of the Highwind's engine. What could they say? What could any of them possibly say? They had stayed silent for hours in the Ancient capital – not a word to speak, not a breath uttered until Cloud had stood and left the building. Leading them on…

Until ---

The rain kept falling.

It was Cait that spoke first except that he didn't speak; he shouted. Excitedly. Babbling something about Marlene and a call and – and ---

Miracles don't need to make sense to happen. She had brought him home again.

_.o.o.o.o.o.o._

Tifa practically blurred running around behind the bar. She beamed at everyone as she offered them drinks. The entire _city_ was celebrating. Her friends were around her, yes, but other people stopped by as well. Well-wishers, friends and acquaintances; no one could explain the strange rain but no one was really questioning it. It had _happened_ and the stigma was gone.

The bar was packed edge to edge and seat to seat. Any other time Tifa might've felt over-whelmed by the crowding but not today. The children were everywhere; people were _everywhere_. Every once in a while someone would burst out into song and the entire bar would sing along, drowning out the pulse of whatever was playing over her sound system at the time.

Tifa found herself laughing sometimes – just laughing. Everyone was laughing. Her eyes would dart around the room. There was Yuffie jumping excitedly around a blushing Reeve. Barret had his arm around Cid who was telling some kind of elaborate, ridiculous story. He'd called Shera earlier – a little drunk but babbling excitedly over the phone. Tifa could just imagine the older woman's sage smile, her hand over her heart.

Nanaki was entertaining the children off by the room's hearth and Cloud… Cloud was sitting with Marlene tucked under his shoulder. Denzel was too old for that kind of attention but he sat on the floor by the older man, talking excitedly about something. Tifa smiled but ducked her eyes down when she saw the three of them. Somehow, it felt almost as if she were intruding on something.

"What does it take for a guy to get a beer around here?"

Tifa started and looked up from her counter. Her grin suddenly split her face and her newest customer smirked as he took a seat in front of her.

Tifa's eyes flicked down and then back up again, her smile turning suddenly secretive.

"You sure you can afford it Reno?" she asked, her eyes twinkling. The redhead scoffed.

"Yeah – Rufus said something 'bout a special bonus. Saving the world and all that."

Tifa laughed and grabbed a bottle from beneath her counter, popping the cap and pouring the liquid in one smooth motion. She slid a glass across to Reno and he raised an eyebrow appraisingly. That made her laugh again; gods, she just couldn't stop laughing!

"That's on the house!" she said, pouring herself one as well. Reno smirked.

"I think that's illegal Lockheart," he said gesturing to the beer that had just materialized in her hand. Tifa shook her head and grinned at the older man, raising her glass in a mock-salute. Reno nodded once and followed suit, taking a long deep drag.

"I didn't see you come in," Tifa said to him, making an effort to be heard over the music. Reno smirked and leaned forward to rest his elbows on the bar counter.

"That's cuz you guys never pay attention to nothin'," he said, his eyes wicked. Tifa arched an eyebrow at him.

"Why come to a party if you're just going to slink in?" Tifa asked teasing. Reno grinned.

"I'm backup," he said cryptically, taking a swing from his beer.

"Backup?" Tifa asked, her nose crinkling.

"You really didn't notice, did you," Reno said, clearly teasing the brunette. For once, Tifa was inclined to play along. She placed her hands on her hips, pretending to be angry.

"Reno…" she said, trying to sound threatening over the din of the music. The older man laughed and shook his head, nodding behind Tifa and to the left.

"By the stairs," he clarified. "Don't turn," he admonished when Tifa moved to do so. Tifa rolled her eyes and peaked surreptitiously behind her shoulder. Her eyes suddenly widened.

She hadn't noticed Vincent standing off by the stairs but that was hardly anything new. It was his company that surprised her. She'd only seen Tseng from a distance before… Elena was standing a half-step behind him, her hands bunched at her sides. Tseng dipped his head forward deeply and after a moment Elena did so as well, her eyes tight. Tifa saw Vincent's lips move but couldn't hear him above the noise. Blushing slightly, she turned back to the redhead who was making a show of ignoring the trio.

Tifa looked at her beer a minute before picking it up again, starring quietly into it for a moment or so. Somehow the room felt different now. Perhaps she had forgotten _why_ they were celebrating.

"Strifey tell you 'bout it?" Reno asked blandly, taking a sip from his beer. Tifa nodded. Reno snorted once and took another long drag. Tifa looked over Reno's shoulder and eyed Cloud from a distance. The blonde man had also taken note of the trio in the back corner. Even from a distance she could tell that he looked pensive. When Marlene turned to look at the three, Cloud patted her knee once and redirected her attention. Tifa couldn't quite hide her small proud smile. He was getting better.

"You never notice nothin' babe," Reno quipped silently into his drink. Tifa looked over at him and scrunched her nose.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Reno shrugged.

"You two've been glancing over at each other since I got in here. Neither of you notice the other when you're doin' it though. It's kinda pathetic."

Tifa harrumphed.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Reno looked up, his green eyes slit.

"I ain't been drinking long enough to believe that line Lockheart."

Tifa looked down and took a quick swing from her drink. Judging by the way Reno's smile stretched, she didn't quite manage to hide her reaction though. He leaned back on his stool

"Advice Teef," he said, unexpectedly shortening her name. Tifa frowned and looked up at him. Reno didn't meet her eyes though. Instead he was looking off at the trio in the corner again.

"You only live once," he said simply, his eyes distant. "Fear ain't got nothin' to do with it."

Tifa frowned and looked down at her hands, a quiet expression on her face. She started when Reno suddenly slammed his drink glass down on the counter. He grinned at her crookedly.

"My job's done toots," he said, nodding towards the now vacant corner. Tifa's eyes darted around the room until she placed Tseng and Elena at the bar's entrance. Her eyes widened.

"You don't have to leave you know," she said, unexpectedly surprised by their sudden departure. Reno's laugh was soft and he shook his head minutely.

"'Course we do." Reno placed a five-gil note on the counter and smirked up at Tifa. She shifted under his unusually long stare before he laughed at something privately to himself. He turned to leave then, still chuckling.

Tifa glanced down at the note before a slow smile stretched across her face.

"Hey Reno!" she called, making the redhead stop. She pointed at the 5 gil note in front her. "That beer was six-fifty!"

Reno laughed and shook his head. Ignoring everyone else around him, he shouted back at the brunette.

"Advice is never free Lockheart!"

This time, when he moved Tifa lost him in the crowd. She looked down at the small piece of paper in front of her, her smile turning slightly secretive. Sliding her hand across the counter, she snatched the note and folded in once before tucking it into her bar apron.

_.o.o.o.o.o.o._

They finally locked that bar's main door way past closing time, the last of the patrons stumbling out of the building at close to three in the morning. Denzel and Marlene had long been carried upstairs and the other Avalanchees had found rooms as well. Cloud was the only one left and he moved around the room righting tables and collecting bottles.

"You don't have to do that you know," Tifa said, eyeing the blonde from her counter as she rubbed it down. Cloud shrugged and picked up a few more glass bottles.

"I want to," he said, walking over towards the base of the counter where he'd piled the cases of empties. Tifa nodded once, a little too tired to make much of a fuss.

"… I saw you talking to Reno," Cloud said, kneeling down beside the counter where Tifa couldn't see him clearly. She stopped her scrubbing.

"You did?"

Cloud nodded.

"He came in with Tseng and Elena," he said simply, placing the bottles into their respective boxes, their glass tinkling a little every time. Tifa's smile was secretive.

"You noticed?"

The jostling of glass stopped.

"… Yeah."

"He was just keeping an eye on them," Tifa said needlessly, her hands working on the bar countertop again.

"What did he think would happen?" Cloud asked, his voice holding that soft note it normally had when he was thinking. Tifa brushed a stray strand of hair back from her face.

"I think that he just … wanted to stay with them," Tifa said simply. Clouded nodded down where Tifa couldn't see him and set to slowly arranging the bottles again. He paused.

"… Why do you think Vincent saved them?"

Tifa paused, taken a bit aback by the question.

"How – why wouldn't he?"

Cloud was quiet and Tifa put down her bar rag.

"Cloud, what's wrong?" she asked candidly. The blonde frowned and Tifa made an exasperated noise.

"Come up so that I can talk to you properly Cloud," she admonished, her fists going instinctively to her hips. A few more bottles clinked down before Cloud used the counter to pull himself up. Tifa nodded to a bar stool in front of her and Cloud sighed silently, taking one. His spikes were starting to droop a little bit after all the night's activities. The observation almost made Tifa smile.

Taking a characteristic pose, she leaned her arms against the counter, waiting for the blonde to talk. Cloud sighed and rubbed a hair through his hair.

"It was something that he said in the Forest. That he'd never tried… to see if sins were forgivable."

Tifa's eyes flicked down to the counter in front of her and she bit her lip once. Cloud starred at his hands.

The quiet stretched before the tiniest side of Tifa's mouth crept up.

"But you know it now, don't you?"

Cloud's eyes widened and he looked up at the woman in front of him. Tifa smiled at him honestly. It took a moment before Cloud answered her with a smile of his own but when he did it was full and honest. He nodded once and pushed himself off the bar stool, smiling at her lightly.

"Yeah, I do."

They went back to cleaning after that.

* * *


End file.
